Killing Floor Bundle

The Steam fairies are ferrying an updated version of Red Orchestra 2 to PCs today. This is RO2's "GOTY Content Pack," a free patch that includes a new map and a heap of fixes. To commemorate the occasion, Tripwire has sent along a grim bit of video that you can watch above. Bunkers! Ditches! These are the places you'll die.

"One of the things we learned from the fans after the release was that many of them thought the game was too hardcore, not hardcore enough, or just not enough like the original game," Tripwire President John Gibson says in the video above. Most developers absorb an array of contradictory feedback after a game launches, and observing that strange soup of commingled praise and hatred while you decide how to react to it isn't something I envy about game development.

Red Orchestra 2's GOTY Edition Free Content Pack represents Tripwire's response to player feedback, and it seems like a truly comprehensive update to a game we already love. To kick off the roll-out of the update later this week, Red Orchestra 2 will also be free to play on Steam this weekend, beginning on Thursday.

What's in the update?

Mamayev Kurgan, a new multiplayer map lined with bunkers and trenches "'Action' mode - Featuring a crosshair, easier aiming and toned down recoil, reduced damage and open access to a wide range of weaponry Action mode is the perfect first step for players into the world of Red Orchestra." "'Classic' mode blends the gameplay innovations of the new game with the tactical and edgy gameplay of the original giving the fans of the first game exactly what they want." Vehicle improvements, including a toning-down of AI tank accuracy Machineguns are now "easier to use," according to Tripwire Performance improvements, including revamp of dynamic shadows, changes to UI rendering, map optimizations, and more Optional client-side hit detection Refinement of spawn-on-squad leader, spawn protection, overtime, and Lockdown

Red Orchestra 2 will be free to play on Steam beginning at 10 AM PST on Thursday, May 24 until Sunday, May 27.

Here we are, 5 days after the initial unveiling of the Killing Floor Gold packaging and the introduction of Female Characters to the game. Much has been said in this short period of time, and we have been listening. But first, lets look at the history of these characters.

Downloadable character packs started as an experiment for Killing Floor. When we created them we had no idea they would become the runaway hit that they have. But to this day, we as a company have looked at them and treated them as extra completely unnecessary content, not gameplay content. These were items players could obtain at a minimal extra cost to help them stand out (or just support further KF development) for a minimal additional cost. Being as they are still something fairly new to us, we have experimented with them even further since their release. Our commitment to keep updating Killing Floor with additional content for free remains unchanged.

Over time we have seen the community pick and choose their favorite characters, and ask for even more. There have also been those who have gone out of their way to obtain every available character, such as the exclusive The Ball character who was available as a pre-order only bonus. This was a reward for those who took a leap of faith on The Ball sight unseen. We made a promise to those who did pre-order that it would be theirs and theirs alone. We have stood by that promise. For Red Orchestra 2, we again introduced exclusive characters for those that obtained the digital deluxe edition (not making it time limited based on feedback from the The Ball character), and even allowed the ability to upgrade your version to DD after purchase.

Which leads us to where we stand today. Thanks to Iceberg Interactive, our European distribution partner, we were able to go ahead and create both the tech and voices required. As such, they have an exclusive on the very first character, so that they can recoup the costs through their retail outlets. We can then use all of that tech moving forward to introduce additional female characters for the community as DLC and/or as unlockables during special events.

But both we and Iceberg have heard the community's request on Ash. We weren't expecting such a surge of interest from the existing player base, so, Iceberg have offered to let us release her as DLC, after their retailers have had a short period of exclusivity. This way, the Gold Edition is a good deal for those who don't yet have the game - and retailers get a limited-time exclusive. We'll release her as DLC in August at $4.99 (base US price) for the special character plus the voicepack. And, for good measure, we'll donate 20% of the proceeds to charity as a bit of a penance for not realizing quite how much extra characters matter to people!

Well, here is a reason to give big thanks to Iceberg Interactive over in Europe. We’ve talked about special editions. we’ve talked about adding playable female characters – and we’ve talked about new voicepacks. So, with over 1 million units sold and some assistance from Iceberg, we now have… a Killing Floor Gold Boxed Edition, with an exclusive FEMALE playable character, along with voice work in English, French and German for her. Their full news post is on their website – <a href="http://www.iceberg-interactive.com/news-mainmenu-33/1-latest/486--killing-floor-gold-edition-to-arrive-june-1st-2012.html">click HERE</a> . The new edition can also be pre-ordered (for shipment to Europe) on their site. We’ll have imports of the box up on the Tripwire Interactive web store shortly, for shipping to North America. Shipments will be sent out, starting on 1 June 2012.

EDIT: Just to make the thanks to Iceberg quite clear - they all love the game so much that they actually commissioned the work to get a female character in game. They did all the voice work - we did some script tweaks and plugged the pieces together. So they get the exclusive box as a thanks. And now, we have the tech in place for us to produce female DLC for the rest of our lives

This will be the ONLY way to get that female playable character. For those who already own the game and/or any of the existing DLC, all of those will show up as tradeable/giftable items in your Steam inventory for you to swap with friends or even just give away!

Killing Floor kicks it off, Red Orchestra starts in at about 7 minutes, and Rising Storm around the 20 minute mark for those looking for a specific topic. Be sure to let us know what excites you the most by joining the conversation in our forums.

A new version (Alpha v0.60)of the Gun Game Mod for Killing Floor has been released. The update adds new maps, and includes bug fixes and polish. If you don't know, Gun Game is a fast paced player vs player mode for Killing Floor where players battle it out to be the first player to get a kill with all weapons. For more information on the mod, check out the posts here:

I love a good weld. And Killing Floor features my favourite welding mechanics of all! The average Killing Floor player is probably more interested in slo-mo dismemberment and headshots, which also feature, but it's that's not really my bag. I like sealing doors, having a panic, then blowing up said door with a pile of grenades.

Tripwire Interactive have just announced that Killing Floor has sold a million copies. They've even managed to sell two million pieces of DLC. To celebrate, they're knocking 85 per cent discount as part of Steam's Midweek Madness sale. The discount applies to the vanilla version and the bundle that comes with a pile of skins for your characters.

Are you still playing Killing Floor? Everyone has nightmares about the Patriarch, right?

Tripwire Interactive are thrilled to announce that Killing Floor has sold more than 1 million copies on PC - and is still selling strongly! This is a major achievement from any game studio as few games, even multi-million-dollar AAA titles, ever sell over 1 million copies on PC. As a truly independent outfit who have funded ourselves all the way, we are particularly proud of the achievement. Our thanks go to all the developers of the Killing Floor mod and everyone on the team here at Tripwire Interactive, who's continued support has made the game such a huge success. We would also like to thank all the members of the community who have made maps and other add-ons for the game, with the Killing Floor SDK. And, most importantly, we offer our thanks to all of the fans and everyone who has bought the game over the past two years and helped make Killing Floor the cultural phenomenon that it is today.

As everyone loves stats, here are some of the important ones:

* 1.1 MILLION copies of Killing Floor sold on PC in 2 and a half years
* Nearly 2 million Killing Floor DLC packs sold
* 45 MILLION hours of Killing Floor played to date
* 440 MILLION Zeds have been dispatched in Achievements alone - including more than a quarter-million Christmas Santa
* Zeds are being killed by you at the rate of over 20,000 an hour!
* Hundreds of custom maps have been created by the community

But we're not just here to brag! In fact we've decided to do something very special to celebrate the 1 million copies milestone. For the next three days we're practically giving the game away with a massive discount of 85% as the "Midweek Madness" feature on Steam this week. That is the cheapest we've ever sold the game for. If you have friends who don't yet play the game, now is the time to educate them on the joys of Killing Floor. You all go on playing the games we make for PC and we'll go on making and supporting them!

In celebration of passing several milestones like selling 1 million copies, having over 45 million hours of playtime and destroying over 500 million Zeds , save 85% on Killing Floor during this week's Midweek Madness!